Are We Collaborating in 2.0 Yet?

Since the dawn of the Web 2.0 era, we’ve come to work in what’s been affectionately termed “enterprise 2.0.” Now that Web 2.0 tools like LinkedIn, Instant Messaging and Twitter are part of the everyday office experience, there’s a new way to look at collaboration. Let’s take a look at what “collaboration 2.0” means and how it can help your team. 

Some of the biggest concerns of today’s office include looking to do more with less – trying to manage and achieve more in these lean times. Along those same lines, people need to communicate and have real-time insights and collaboration to get work done more efficiently – sometimes across departments and time zones. These Web 2.0 tools are informing the way we communicate with each other both outside of and within the enterprise. In today’s global economy, teams are dispersed around the world and collaboration now means working across time zones, borders and even collaborating with outside vendors.

There are now even more Web 2.0 tools out there that are tailored to the enterprise – from Google Docs, Salesforce.com, to Daptiv PPM – that will help your office work from the same materials concurrently instead of emailing various drafts that will leave a confusing paper trail. Today’s collaboration tools also give you the ability to manage projects in a smart way and track progress in real-time, against alignment with business objectives – even as those business objectives change (check out SuccessFactors’ efforts in Business Execution).

With more technologies available today we have the ability to collaborate in new ways that were not possible even several years ago. What shape has collaboration 2.0 taken in your office? Are you still at the conceptual phase, or has your organization made big strides? Has the shift toward dynamic, real-time collaboration been a rough one, or effortless? What are the variables at play in your teams?

We look forward to continuing the conversation and hearing your insights.